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<p>It is an aside from the topic of this thread, but her chronic health conditions do not matter when buying insurance now. Price is the same no matter what, pre-existing conditions are not a factor when purchasing a plan. Of course you want them to clear up for her own sake and health, but if they don’t, she should be able to get insurance for the same price as any other 26 year old.</p>
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You can go to <a href=“https://www.healthcare.gov/”>https://www.healthcare.gov/</a> and look up prices, or it will direct you to a state exchange where you can look up prices.</p>
<p>Except for my state, which appears to be busted. So I used a nearby state. If I retired tomorrow, it would cost me $900-1200/month to cover DW and I. Cobra costs for my current insurance are close to $2K a month. It’s expensive but we should be able to afford it.</p>
<p>Notrichenough, I am a little confused with your post. </p>
<p>You are going to use an ACA plan before you use Cobra. Right?</p>
<p>notrich, thanks, It’s about $176-200 per month.</p>
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Most likely, it is half the price, although the deductibles are pretty high. I’d have to spend some time analyzing both to see which is really better.</p>
<p>In any case, Cobra only lasts for 18 months. And then I’d have no choice but to use an ACA plan.</p>
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<p>You can’t really look at a nearby state, the rates vary quite a bit between states. I think @notrichenough is saying that COBRA for 2 would be $2K/month, but he and his wife can get covered for a total of $900-$1200/month via plans on their exchange. It will be interesting to see what happens to rates over the next couple of years, too. Insurance companies weren’t sure how to price, but now have some experience. They will go up (because rates NEVER go down, our employer costs have ticked up steadily every year for the past 30 years), but the amount is not clear.</p>
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I am in MA, I used CT. They are probably fairly close in price. I was just looking for a ballpark, anyway.</p>
<p>Unless the out of pocket maximum on the cobra plan equals the premiums, the odds that the cobra plan is the better financial deal are extremely low. The difference in premiums are quite large.</p>
<p>The network might be better under the cobra plan. When the time comes, checking the networks under the ACA plans to see if one is satisfactory makes sense. </p>
<p>The cheapest plans (the bronze ones) have a $12,000 deductible, compared to $1,500 each for the Cobra’d plan. Not sure how the $12K breaks down, and I haven’t really compared co-pays/co-insurance etc.</p>
<p>But at least ACA would let us get something without bankrupting us.</p>
<p>Are both you and your wife going to use all the deductible? What is the out of pocket maximum of the cobra plan?</p>
<p>Stay faaar away from a medicare advantage (HMO) plan. </p>
<p>I believe those who can qualify for free (having worked enough quarters paying into Medicare A), tend to get that plan. Medicare is OPTIONAL. The thing is if you DON’T buy it when you qualify at 65 or within 8 months after you stop having work-provided medical insurance coverage, you will be penalized forever if you decide to get coverage later. You are never REQUIRED to get Medicare A or B, but it does provide a lot of folks their primary coverage once they are disabled or 65 or older (as long as they apply and pay applicable premiums).</p>
<p>Some of H’s former co-workers have made a financial decision NOT to get Medicare B and do not ever plan to. H and I have made the financial decision to have BOTH Medicare A & B, as well as medical insurance. It costs a bit more but gives us great peaxe of mind, especially since I have chronic health conditions and to a lesser degree so does H.</p>
<p>I do expect that D will not cost much to insure as a 26 year old, but will start digging around in another 6 or more months, after she turns 25, and they fix up the exchanges and websites.</p>
<p>Jym626, why?</p>
<p>What is the alternative? The medigap plan?</p>
<p>There are PPO instead of HMO plans. If you work with your State Office on Aging thru your dept of health, they should be able to help explain the options. </p>
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<p>I just checked an online source and it looks like CT is cheaper than MA (about $100/month difference was what I saw). </p>
<p>There is no real benefit to a Medicare advantage program. In many cases they cost as much or more, as they limit access to drs, some require referrals from a PCP ( Humana for one is going to this model) and fewer drs accept it . One in Fl just went bankrupt. It looks on the surface to have benefits of no or low copay but is very restrictive. As a provider, Medicare has enough challenges. Medicare advantage is worse. </p>
<p>jym, I’m in a Medicare Advantage plan in CT and, so far, knock on wood, I’m quite happy with it. There is no incremental cost to me for the plan above what I would be paying for Medicare Parts B and D, and all of my docs are in it. I pay a copay for all my office visits and that’s the end of it. It’s only my first year in the plan, so we’ll have to see, but so far, so good.</p>
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dstark - who can predict the future?</p>
<p>The OOP maximum for in-network care on my company’s plan is $2K/person-$4K/family, however the deductible is only $500 each, there is no co-insurance for in-network, lab-work is covered 100%, and even things like hospital stays have only a $1000 co-pay. So I think it would be quite hard to reach the OOP max on this plan.</p>
<p>The one bronze ACA plan I looked at ($900/month) has a $6K/$12K deductible and a $12.5K OOP max, and virtually everything is subject to the deductible. So it seems like this plan would still be cheaper worst-case than the Cobra plan, but I haven’t dug into the details. I don’t know if the ACA plan covers chiropractic care, for example.</p>
<p>^^ All you need is for one or both of you to require expensive medication (e.g., biologics like Enbrel, or insulin, etc.) and you will blow through your out-of-pocket in a few months. Worse than that, you will probably require those meds for the rest of your life.</p>
<p>ETA: we found that the lowest premium plan with the highest deductible/OOP max worked out best for us. Everyone’s mileage will vary.</p>
<p>Notrichenough, </p>
<p>Are you and your wife big users of chiropractic care?</p>
<p>I guess you will have to check specific plans to see how chiropractic care is covered.</p>
<p>I think it is extremely likely the ACA plans compare favorably to cobra plans.</p>
<p>That employer plan is a pretty nice plan. What are the premiums? Do you work for a large employer? Over 1,000 employees? Over 300 employees?</p>